Rogue Grader: Manu Aeternitatis

Session 1: Pestilent Legacy

...or, 'How we executed mutiny'

The session begins with the Rogue Trader Roland (NPC) calling a meeting. There, he gives instructions to acquire a navigation chart, a writ of salvage, and some mercenaries. He promptly leaves the ship to pray at the shrine located on Port Wander, the station the Quaestus Aeternam is currently docked.

The party splits up. Rogue Trader Ajunta (Zach) and Senechal Sarvus (Brandon) work their way through the Imperial Bureaucracy and get a signed Warrant of Salvage for the “Emperor’s Bounty” from Yuni, a mid-ranking adept.

Meanwhile, Arch-Militant Darius (Sean) and the Navigator Kunt (Katie) visit another docked Rogue Trader, Jeramiah Blitz in hopes of hiring some mercenaries and getting a copy of their warp charts. After some brief haggling, they get both.

With the return of the the Explorator, Praxis (Vic, not present and perviously had an adventure of his own), they set off into the Maw, a turbulent region of space which is nestled between two persistent warp storms.

As they exit the Empyrean, they realize that bringing their raider in close proximity to the Battlegrounds would be a dangerous endeavor, and could damage the ship. Roland decides to leave Adjunta in charge of the salvage operation, leaving without telling his purpose. Adjunta decides to take his Guncutter with a salvage crew instead. En-route, they receive a distress call from the Quaestus Aeternam – They’re under attack by a large transport ship.

They hastily return to the ship as the battle begins, with neither ship significantly harming the other. Roland is still sequestered away, supposedly in his quarters. Adjunta and Kunt rush to the bridge to aid in the battle, while Sarvus and Darius rush to Roland’s quarters, to determine why the Captain is not on the bride during a fire-fight.

They force open Roland’s door, and find him armorless and shirtless, striking himself repeatedly with a barbed whip, chanting in High Gothic. Darius, with a chance to work out his vengeance for his forced-servitude to the Rogue Trader, fires his heavy bolter at the seemingly helpless Roland.

A fight breaks out. Using some sort of Eldar Force Shield, Roland ignores the heavy bolter fire. Sarvus tries to talk Darius and Roland down, but Darius continues firing. Roland charges Darius with his mono-whip, but Darius manages to parry the blow and destroy the weapon with his recently-acquired Chain-sword.

Roland attempts to flee to his personal armory, but is shot in the leg (despite his Eldar shielding). He throws back his head in pain, and shouts, “Nurgle, save me!”

Immediately, he starts to mutate. His remaining clothing is destroyed by the sudden growth, including his Eldar Shield-belt. He is healed, then almost immediately brought low by Sarvus, who shoots him at point-blank with an inferno-pistol twice.

The session ended here, but questions remain. When, why, and how did Roland fall to Chaos? How will the crew react to finding their Lord-Captain has been slain by his own sworn body-guard? Will the Quaestus Aeternam be victorious against it’s mysterious assailant? Only time will tell.